74 books
—
180 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Secret, Book, & Scone Society, #1)” as Want to Read:
The Secret, Book & Scone Society
(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #1)
by
From New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams comes the first in an intriguing new series set within a quirky small-town club where the key to happiness, friendship—or solving a murder—can all be found within the pages of the right book . . .
Miracle Springs, North Carolina, is a place of healing. Strangers flock here hoping the natural hot springs, five-star cuisine, ...more
Miracle Springs, North Carolina, is a place of healing. Strangers flock here hoping the natural hot springs, five-star cuisine, ...more
Get A Copy
Hardcover, 290 pages
Published
October 31st 2017
by Kensington
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Secret, Book & Scone Society,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Secret, Book, & Scone Society, #1)

Nora Pennington came to Miracle Springs, NC to heal from physical and psychological trauma from her past. Miracle Springs offers healing to everyone who visits. The natural hot springs and spa offer physical comfort. There is also spiritual and psychological healing through baked comfort scones at the Gingerbread House, and bibliotherapy at Miracle Books. Nora runs the bookshop, and always seems to know just the right books to help each customer. The shop is in the old railway depot. She lives n
...more

THE SECRET, BOOK, AND SCONE SOCIETY is the first in a new series by Ellery Adams that beautifully combines my favorite elements of mystery, magical realism, and women's fiction. The book is set in the enchanting town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina - a place that draws people in need of healing - including main character Nora Pennington and the other members of the Secret, Book, and Scone Society. The group forms initially to investigate the death of an out-of-town businessman, but a strong b
...more

My very first cozy mystery was a good introduction to the genre. This book features lots of literary quotes and references, which definitely earned points with me. The writing is pleasant and detailed, really affording you the opportunity to get to know the characters, who all have a very different voice. The characters in this book aren't perfect, far from it. I've gotten tired of characters too perfect to be real. Our main character, Nora, has a troubled past and disfiguring scars from a fire.
...more

I really enjoy this cozy mystery book, and this is the first book in the Secret, Book, and Scone Society series. In this book a group of women that starts to call themselves the secret book and scone society for together to solve a murder, but all the women have their other secrets. (*)

Nov 02, 2017
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice*
rated it
liked it
EXCERPT: I read all the time. And I listen to people. I really listen...Stories don't change much across continents and centuries. Hearts are broken. Pride is wounded. Souls wander too far from home and become lost. The wrong roads are taken. The incorrect choice is made. Stories echo with loneliness. Grief. Longing. Redemption. Forgiveness. Hope. And love.
THE BLURB: From New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams comes the first in an intriguing new series set within a quirky small-town cl ...more
THE BLURB: From New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams comes the first in an intriguing new series set within a quirky small-town cl ...more

Miracle Springs, North Carolina is a small town that is known to be a place of healing. Not only is there a natural hot springs and renowned spa available but many of the shopkeepers in town have their own signature way of healing visitors. Nora Pennington is one of those shopkeepers being the owner of Miracle Books where she considers herself a bit of a bibliotherapist being able to talk with a customer and since which book would help them with their own problems.
When Nora meets a man that see ...more
When Nora meets a man that see ...more







I want to give a huge thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Ellery Adams for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an unbiased and honest review!
Everyone who is damaged or looking for some sort of healing travels to the small town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina. Strangers come to go to the renowned spa, the natural springs, and five star cuisine so that they can mend their broken souls and/or bodies. If they don’t find relief in these treatments the end up seeing Nora the biblioth ...more
Everyone who is damaged or looking for some sort of healing travels to the small town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina. Strangers come to go to the renowned spa, the natural springs, and five star cuisine so that they can mend their broken souls and/or bodies. If they don’t find relief in these treatments the end up seeing Nora the biblioth ...more

This was a fabulous read, if I could give it more than five stars I would. I kept putting the book down while I was reading it, not because I couldn't get into it but because I didn't want it to end. It pulled me in and I wanted to stay there and get to know the characters more. I so wanted to visit Miracle Springs and have a custom made scone and then go to Miracle Books and have a session with Nora wondering what books she would choose to help me. In this first book of the series you'll meet a
...more

Feb 16, 2018
Lisa (not getting friends updates) Vegan
rated it
liked it
Recommended to Lisa (not getting friends updates) by:
Sfdreams
This has a fun premise. I love the idea of bibliotherapy and women’s friendships and people’s stories/secrets. I love cozy mysteries and I did enjoy this one, though it got a bit violent/intense for my tastes, but just briefly.
There are lots of wonderful quotes that I enjoyed, at the beginning of each chapter and within the book proper, and also mentions of many books.
So, loved the quotes, the concept, the books theme, and that there was some depth to the characters.
But while this is the first b ...more
There are lots of wonderful quotes that I enjoyed, at the beginning of each chapter and within the book proper, and also mentions of many books.
So, loved the quotes, the concept, the books theme, and that there was some depth to the characters.
But while this is the first b ...more

Release Date: October 31, 2017
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Miracle Springs, North Carolina #1
The Secret, Book and Scone Society is the first in a brand new cozy mystery series from Ellery Adams. Readers will be introduced to the beautiful setting of this charming small town and meet 4 women who become close friends over a murder that occurs in their town. In an essence, this is what starts their little group of amateur investigating, the secret book and scone society. Each of these women, wh ...more
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Miracle Springs, North Carolina #1
The Secret, Book and Scone Society is the first in a brand new cozy mystery series from Ellery Adams. Readers will be introduced to the beautiful setting of this charming small town and meet 4 women who become close friends over a murder that occurs in their town. In an essence, this is what starts their little group of amateur investigating, the secret book and scone society. Each of these women, wh ...more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 🔥🎉🎉
My reviews and (maybe) some other random thoughts can also be seen at
https://readingbetweenwinessite.wordp...
____________________________________________________________
The above quote and so many more are featured in The Secret, Book and Scone Society. This ...more
My reviews and (maybe) some other random thoughts can also be seen at
https://readingbetweenwinessite.wordp...
____________________________________________________________
"Books are everywhere; and always the same sense of adventure fills us... in this random miscellaneous company we may rub against some complete stranger who will, with luck, turn into the best friend we have in the world."
The above quote and so many more are featured in The Secret, Book and Scone Society. This ...more

I finished this book late into Monday night. I couldn't put it down.
This book is so much more than a cozy mystery. It's an amazing tale about four very different women who find themselves involved in a mystery that is tearing their small town apart.
Nora owns a book shop, and helps to heal those customers who need it, by suggesting books, she's a biblio-therapist.
June is the manager of a luxury spa, Estella owns a hair salon and Hester owns her bakery, where comfort scones are her specialty.
When ...more
This book is so much more than a cozy mystery. It's an amazing tale about four very different women who find themselves involved in a mystery that is tearing their small town apart.
Nora owns a book shop, and helps to heal those customers who need it, by suggesting books, she's a biblio-therapist.
June is the manager of a luxury spa, Estella owns a hair salon and Hester owns her bakery, where comfort scones are her specialty.
When ...more

Oct 15, 2020
Alice Lippart
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2020,
mystery-thriller-detective
Like how this focuses on female friendship but there was a lot of stuff that just didn't work for me and I didn't really like the writing.
...more

Have you ever started a book and within just a few pages known that you were going to love it? It's rare, but special when it happens, and it happened when I started to read this one.
It has all the elements...books and references to other books, women's friendships, a realistic and intelligent plot, well-drawn characters and just a little extra -- not so much paranormal, but more magical realism.
Nora has made a new life for herself in Miracle Springs, N.C. When she refuses to believe the death o ...more
It has all the elements...books and references to other books, women's friendships, a realistic and intelligent plot, well-drawn characters and just a little extra -- not so much paranormal, but more magical realism.
Nora has made a new life for herself in Miracle Springs, N.C. When she refuses to believe the death o ...more

This is the first book in a new series by Ellery Adams. It was just as enchanting to read as is looking at the cover of the book.
We get to meet four powerful, and damaged women living in Miracle Springs, North Carolina. A town known where people travel to for healing.
When a man is found dead these four women decide to search for answers and the truth.
I have read Ellery Adams other series and love them, but this to me is her best.
A story how very different individuals can form friendships.
I ...more
We get to meet four powerful, and damaged women living in Miracle Springs, North Carolina. A town known where people travel to for healing.
When a man is found dead these four women decide to search for answers and the truth.
I have read Ellery Adams other series and love them, but this to me is her best.
A story how very different individuals can form friendships.
I ...more

Dollycas’s Thoughts
Nora Pennington has come to Miracle Springs, North Carolina to escape a terrible tragedy. She feels safe in her bookstore helping her customers find their own healing in the books she chooses for them. Hester runs the Gingerbread House bakery. Customers tell her a little bit about their lives and what brought them to Miracle Springs. Then she bakes them up a “comfort scone”. She and Nora work together by sending their customers to each other’s stores. June works at the hot spr ...more
Nora Pennington has come to Miracle Springs, North Carolina to escape a terrible tragedy. She feels safe in her bookstore helping her customers find their own healing in the books she chooses for them. Hester runs the Gingerbread House bakery. Customers tell her a little bit about their lives and what brought them to Miracle Springs. Then she bakes them up a “comfort scone”. She and Nora work together by sending their customers to each other’s stores. June works at the hot spr ...more

This is a story that is clearly designed to appeal to bibliophiles, with its bookstore setting and a protagonist with a gift for choosing the perfect book. But, sadly for us bibliophiles, the tale proves to be a plodding, formulaic murder mystery afflicted by pointless descriptions and statements of the obvious. I wanted to like this but the writing is just so ham-handed and sloppy, I simply cannot bear it.
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher for review.
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher for review.

4.5 stars
THE SECRET, BOOK, AND SCONE SOCIETY is one of the best books I have read this year. Over the years, Ellery Adams has penned some of my favorite cozy mysteries, and I was excited to read this first book in a new series. THE SECRET, BOOK, AND SCONE SOCIETY is a bit darker than the typical cozy but hits all of the trade mark criteria, including a lovely small town setting, amateur sleuths, and a murder or two.
The story is set in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, where the healing waters dr ...more
THE SECRET, BOOK, AND SCONE SOCIETY is one of the best books I have read this year. Over the years, Ellery Adams has penned some of my favorite cozy mysteries, and I was excited to read this first book in a new series. THE SECRET, BOOK, AND SCONE SOCIETY is a bit darker than the typical cozy but hits all of the trade mark criteria, including a lovely small town setting, amateur sleuths, and a murder or two.
The story is set in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, where the healing waters dr ...more

Okay. This book was magic. I have a book hangover.
☕
*Note- There will be no spoilers. I don't believe in writing reviews with spoilers.*
🍃
Good Lord. Not every author has the gift of bringing out emotions so thoroughly, but Ellery is definitly one of the best. She really just reaches into your soul and pulls everything out. Case in point, I had only hit page 7 and my tear ducts were at work.
🍃
There are several serious moments throughout the book but it makes it more realistic. Miracle Springs is a ...more
☕
*Note- There will be no spoilers. I don't believe in writing reviews with spoilers.*
🍃
Good Lord. Not every author has the gift of bringing out emotions so thoroughly, but Ellery is definitly one of the best. She really just reaches into your soul and pulls everything out. Case in point, I had only hit page 7 and my tear ducts were at work.
🍃
There are several serious moments throughout the book but it makes it more realistic. Miracle Springs is a ...more

What a better way to spend time than in a Ellery Adams book. Just on seeing the cover I am enchanted. The title The Secret, Book and Scone Society contains two of my favorite things books and scones. The cover shows a plate of scones, a stack of books, a cup of tea and an open book and I am loving it. This is the first book in Ellery's new series and I am already waiting for the second book.
One of Ellery Adams's strong suits is creating powerful and real female characters. On page one I met Nor ...more
One of Ellery Adams's strong suits is creating powerful and real female characters. On page one I met Nor ...more

I am a big fan of Ellery Adams, so I was very excited to be able to read an ARC copy of the first book in her new series, The Secret, Book, & Scone Society. The compelling thing about Ms Adams books are her very interesting characters and her sense of time and place. These are very evident in this book, our heroine Nora, and her posse, (the other members of the society) are all real women, with scars internally and externally, and compassion built out of some of life's hard lessons. Miracle Spri
...more

The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams was a strong beginning to a new series. It was more than a cozy mystery as Ms. Adams combined very detailed descriptions of the four main women characters in the book. I thought of this book as a combination mystery and women's fiction.
Nora, Hester, Estella and June are some of the strongest, determined and loneliest women I have ever met in a book. Their stories as they are revealed during the mystery had me tearing up and cheering them on as the ...more
Nora, Hester, Estella and June are some of the strongest, determined and loneliest women I have ever met in a book. Their stories as they are revealed during the mystery had me tearing up and cheering them on as the ...more

I do like a real cozy mystery now and then and Ellery Adam's book did not disappoint, I would say that in many ways she surprised me and delivered more than the normal cozy does.
There are four main characters in this book, 4 women who had a terrible event happen to them or something they did that means that they now live with shame or regret and without having friends. They connect over the death of a man, who had come to Miracle Springs to atone for his sins and make amends for something that ...more
There are four main characters in this book, 4 women who had a terrible event happen to them or something they did that means that they now live with shame or regret and without having friends. They connect over the death of a man, who had come to Miracle Springs to atone for his sins and make amends for something that ...more

You know how people say when one door closes another one opens? Well, one of Ellery Adams series has ended, but she has given me a new series. She has introduced me to new friends, a special bookshop and bakery and a new crush. I would love to live in Miracle Springs, North Carolina. So when Nora sells one of her special books to a stranger to town, and he is soon after murdered, she and her friends set out to figure out what happened. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
...more

One of the best books I've read this year! Well developed characters that by the end of the book you feel as if you've known them forever and a well though out murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. I highly recommend this book!
...more

"Becoming a reader is a change for the better. Trust me. No one has ever lost by becoming addicted to stories..." ~Nora Pennington
Trust me, you'll be better after reading this first book in Ellery's new series. We're introduced to four dynamic, determined, daring, and damaged women who live in the unique town of Miracle Springs. Their lives intersect because of small town life, but they choose to establish and build relationships to become connected and thus overcome loneliness. So, surrounded b ...more
Trust me, you'll be better after reading this first book in Ellery's new series. We're introduced to four dynamic, determined, daring, and damaged women who live in the unique town of Miracle Springs. Their lives intersect because of small town life, but they choose to establish and build relationships to become connected and thus overcome loneliness. So, surrounded b ...more

This is the first in a cosy mystery series. It took me a couple of chapters to get into the book, but I found after this I started to enjoy the story and like the characters.
Nora runs the bookstore in a small town, she spends time getting to know her customers and then selects books especially suited to their circumstances to try and help them through issues that they may be dealing with. She considers herself an amateur bibliotherapist. Through some unfortunate circumstances she finds herself o ...more
Nora runs the bookstore in a small town, she spends time getting to know her customers and then selects books especially suited to their circumstances to try and help them through issues that they may be dealing with. She considers herself an amateur bibliotherapist. Through some unfortunate circumstances she finds herself o ...more

I believe this is sure to be a popular new series for Ellery Adams fans. The story is well-plotted and offers an interesting mix of likeable characters, led by bookstore owner, Nora. Four women band together to support each other and to help those in need by recognizing their own blessings and paying them forward. As you read the book, you’ll be swept up into each mini-story. In this book, the women need to solve a murder of a man wishing to redeem his mistakes when his life is tragically taken
...more

This book was very interesting, keep my attention long into the night and had very believable characters. I loved how she developed the personalities of her wonderful female characters, stressing the individuality of each one but showing how their friendships and love and respect for each other blossomed. I learned a lot about various authors due to the bookstore and have added many to my reading list! I highly recommend this book.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kindle Book Club ...: Discussion, The Secret Book and Scone Society, Reading In Progress | 7 | 14 | May 18, 2019 07:36AM |
USA Today and New York Times bestseller author, Ellery Adams, has written over thirty novels and can’t imagine spending a day away from the keyboard. Ms. Adams, a Native New Yorker, has had a lifelong love affair with stories, food, rescue animals, and large bodies of water. When not working on her next novel, she bakes, gardens, drinks vats of coffee, spoils her three cats, and snacks on black li
...more
Other books in the series
Secret, Book, & Scone Society
(4 books)
Related Articles
Kazuo Ishiguro insists he’s an optimist about technology.
“I'm not one of these people who thinks it's going to come and destroy us,” he...
304 likes · 28 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“I prefer cinnamon twists over scones because they’re easier to eat while I’m reading. That’s my main priority when it comes to food. Other people are obsessed with calories, nutritional value, antioxidants. I look at food and wonder: Can I eat that without having to put my book down?”
—
7 likes
“You’ve got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down. —Ray Bradbury”
—
4 likes
More quotes…